By: Eliot Wilson

Eliot Wilson is a writer, commentator and contributing editor at Defence On The Brink. He was formerly a clerk in the House of Commons and writes regularly on politics, defence and international security, and Parliament and the constitution, including for The Spectator, The Hill, The i Paper and CapX

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No showing off: The paradox at the heart of British men’s style

June 23, 2021

The English have a strange relationship to men’s style. Every gentleman has conflicting voices, a Jeeves and a Wooster on either shoulder: Bertie with his brass-buttoned mess jacket and Old Etonian spats, his valet with an eyebrow raised in polite disapproval. Nowhere better is this duality exemplified than in the British Army. Regiments do everything [...]
In whose backyard, then? Lib Dem nimbyism in local areas comes at the expense of the country

June 21, 2021

Last week the government suffered an unexpected setback in the loss of the Chesham and Amersham by-election to the Liberal Democrats. The received wisdom is that this is not a fatal wound, nor the beginning of a trend away from the Conservatives in their Home Counties heartlands, but rather a reversion to the old pattern [...]
From Noël Coward to Hugh Grant, Americans love British style

June 17, 2021

This week saw the opening of a dazzling exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery dedicated to the art and style of Noël Coward. It celebrates the centenary of the Master’s West End debut as a 19-year-old playwright, with I’ll Leave It To You. Many of the exhibits come from the Noël Coward Archive Trust, and [...]
Trouble brewing at BrewDog: Can co-founder James Watt apologise his way out of a toxic culture?

June 14, 2021

Last week was a rocky one for self-styled “punk” brewers BrewDog. Some 60 former employees under the collective name of Punks with Purpose posted an open letter on Twitter, in which they accused the company and its founders, James Watt and Martin Dickie, of fostering a “cult of personality” and alleged that a “culture of [...]
The end of lockdown could spell a dinner party renaissance

June 10, 2021

The end of lockdown should be close; we wait with bated breath for a final decision on whether 21 June will in fact see the sweeping away of most of the remaining restrictions. In the meantime, however, we are allowed to gather indoors according to the rule of six (or more, if they are drawn [...]
Britain’s defence procurement strategy wastes billions of pounds and puts lives at risk

June 8, 2021

Ministry of Defence procurement projects running over budget or behind schedule rarely makes its way onto the front pages. It happens so often, you have to wonder if expensive delays are written into the small print by MoD’s commercial arm, Defence Equipment and Support. The procurement of the Ajax infantry fighting vehicle is just the [...]
Black tie, white noise: let’s make summer the new party season

June 1, 2021

With the last restrictions of the pandemic due to be lifted in mere weeks, we all deserve to celebrate. We think of the run-up to Christmas as the typical ‘party season’, but Yuletide seems a long way off. Let’s claim this summer for celebrations, and burst out of lockdown with a grateful song in our [...]
Thinking around corners on UK rental market could transform life for the better

June 1, 2021

With pubs and restaurants open across London once again, the capital’s young professionals can return to one of their favourite pastimes: gathering together over a drink to complain about the rental market. We all know the stereotypical ladder: you begin in a slightly shabby, probably shared flat, you move on to somewhere on your own [...]
In defence of the long lunch: Business needs the human touch

May 24, 2021

No-one quite knows when the long lunch suffered a mortal blow. Perhaps it was the financial crisis of 2007-08, when money lost its lustre. Perhaps it was before that, in the 1980s, when US working cultures flooded the City of London after the Big Bang. The grim phrase “al desko” was first recorded in the [...]
After the Martin Bashir scandal, the BBC must claw back its status as a cultural embassy for Britain

May 24, 2021

It has been a bad weekend for the BBC. The fall-out from Lord Dyson’s report on Martin Bashir and his infamous interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, has exposed not just individual wrongdoing by a rogue journalist but an institutional desire—and ability—to look the other way and excuse appalling behaviour because it delivered a scoop [...]

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By: Eliot Wilson

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